The Great Wall

First Hit:  Although visually arresting at times, there's nothing believable about this story.

The problem with fantasies are that if they aren’t done well, the audience slips out of the story and is left with just watching interesting pictures and waiting the next piece of action. That is what happens here.

It begins with a group of horsemen being chased by another group of horsemen in the middle of a desert. How did they get there, where did they come from, why are they there?

We don't get much background, but when William (Matt Damon), the main character, speaks, because of the film's time period, it is hard to buy his American accent and dialect because the English hadn't occupied the United States yet.

This isn't the only problem in this film, but it is one of the first the audience encounters. We learn that his band of marauders is in search of gunpowder as it has been rumored that the Chinese have discovered a black powder that can kill many people with one use. After the initial chase scene, the men are getting restless because they've not found the powder and they keep losing men. William's closest ally in this ever decreasing small group of men is Tovar (Pedro Pascal) who at least has an appropriate European accent.

While hiding in a cave from the latest group trying to kill them, they get attacked by some beasts. The beasts kill everyone except Tovar and William. On the run again, they ride into The Great Wall with warriors all around them and dressed in beautiful, colorful, and striking uniforms. It is a wonder of the world. The warriors are manning the wall because a 60 year cycle is complete and the beast are coming to kill them, get past the wall and head towards the capital of China.

The warriors on the wall have various skills and techniques to kill the beasts. Catapults that use large balls covered with oil and lit on fire. There are bow and arrow teams. There are spear teams and teams of women who jump off the wall tethered to the top of the wall and are pulled up once they throw their spears. The leader of this bungie team is Commander Lin Mae (Tian Jing) who is also in line to be a higher-level leader. She has learned English from a previously captured man named Ballard (Willem Dafoe).

When the beasts come, William shows his bravery and kills many beasts and earns the respect of the Chinese Army leaders.

The film goes on, and on, which is part of the problem because, nothing is explained or validated and the audience is supposed to just accept the premises and buy into the story. This is the failing of this film to me.

It seems as though this film was created to show something about the wall, the glory of big and beautiful sets, bravery of Chinese warriors, and that they alone invented gunpowder. I kept thinking why didn’t they use the gunpowder against the beasts at the beginning?  Why did they wait until near collapse of the capital? And even in the end, I kept asking where did William come from?

This question and many others kept coming up while watching the film and made the experience rather unfulfilling.

Damon was OK, but I never bought his accent or his story. Doing this may have been a good idea, but in the end I would sense that Damon would like to forget it. Jing was too beautifully made up in each of her close-ups to believe she was in a war for her life and the life of her country. Pascal’s was one of the best parts of the film. There was a level of irreverence in his character’s dialogue that made the film fun. Dafoe was wasted in this role. Seemed as though he was only there as a way for Mae to learn English so that she could speak to William. Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro wrote a skeptical screenplay. There was little to get the audience to buy into, engage with, or believe about the story. Director Yimou Zhang seemed far more interested in big picture beauty and chorography versus putting a story together that engages the audience.

Overall:  The pictures were pretty; the story flimsy and execution was mediocre.

Gold

First Hit:  Hard to engage with a film when you don’t like the main character.

There is very little about Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) that is likeable. He’s smarmy in the way he looks, how he acts, and his intentions. Granted the film lets the audience believe he might have changed in the ending scene, however, there’s enough to believe differently.

Supposedly this is based on a true story, however after reading about the real story; “loosely” is probably the best possible description. However, that isn’t the point of this review, therefore I will not spend time on the differences between the real story and this story.

In this film, Wells is drinking and smoking so much of the time I could almost smell the smoke and alcohol laden odor coming through the screen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, for the main character to be so unappealing made it hard to get into the film. I’m not sure why McConaughey had to gain so much weight and have such thin hair on top of his head, but these things didn’t help his unshaven, scraggly tooth looking character. It was almost as if he wanted to make himself as unappealing as possible.

The way he treated his longtime girlfriend Kay (Bryce Dallas Howard) was horrendous. She loved him and supported him through his destruction of his Dad (Craig T. Nelson) and grandfather’s company Washoe Mining. It gets so bad they work out of a bar.

Kenny gets the idea from a dream to hook up with Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) and find gold in Indonesia. Unbeknown to Wells, Acosta has salted the drilling core findings and because Wells believes they’ve found gold, he revives Washoe Mining and sell millions of shares as they go public.

This film also involves the family of the Monarch in Indonesia. When the monarchy and other investors discover that this has been a hoax, everything falls apart.

The scenes of the jungle and drilling operation were well done. The boardroom scenes were, at times, powerful, and the use of the bar as Washoe’s office was very telling of the whole film and Wells’ personality. The one thing the film did do very well was show just how fleeting wealth can be.

McConaughey was OK as Wells. He had great handle on the maniac part of a gold prospector, but everything else felt very overdone and took away from the film instead of adding to it. Howard was strong as Wells longtime girlfriend. She was appropriately supportive and loving. The scene in the hotel after the company went public on the stock trading floor, was very well done. Ramirez was great as the geologist and Wells gold prospecting partner. His engagement and support, with a slight questionable edge was wonderful. Patrick Massett and John Zinman wrote a wonderful script. I loved some of the lines, however it was McConaughey and director Stephen Gaghan's misguidance for the main character that hurt this film. I liked the sequence of the scenes and many of the sets were very well done, but being put off by the main character who is in virtually every scene can and did hurt this film.

Overall:  I liked the story of greed, gold and how it played out, but without someone or something to care or think about, it felt lifeless.

Films I Saw and Liked in 2016

These are some of the films I saw in 2016 that I liked and why. Eye In The Sky:  Gave a view of how war has changed through the use of drones and electronics. This was also Alan Rickman’s last film.

Where To Invade Next:  A Michael Moore Documentary about our inability to provide US Citizens with aspects of living we founded but never implemented.

Knight Of Cups:  This film is not everyone’s cup of tea but its esoteric nature touched me.

Hello, My Name Is Doris:  Sally Field was spectacular as a woman who tried to find love with a much younger man.

Deadpool:  Despite the thoughts of most other reviewers, I thought this was a very funny film.

Money Monster:  I like Clooney and the premise of this film about television stock pickers.

Golden Kingdom:  I loved the young monks and their clear devotion to their Buddhist practice.

Dark Horse:  Sweet film about a group of Welsh villiagers.

Nerve:  Although nothing great about this film, it was a blast to watch, which is enough sometimes.

Captain Fantastic:  I loved the premise and story of this film.

Southside With You:  I thoroughly enjoyed this version of Barack and Michelle’s first date.

Hell Or High Water:  Really evoked the old west with fine performances.

Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World:  Wonderful documentary about how we got the World Wide Web.

Samsara:  Powerful images showing the cycle of life.

Snowden:  I really liked how Oliver Stone told this sotry.

The Beatles:  Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years:  Outstanding documentary about The Beatles earliest years.

Sully:  Tom Hanks was great in telling this amazing true story.

Certain Women:  Very interesting study and story about these women's lives.

Nocturnal Animals:  I loved the acting in this film.

The Edge of Seventeen:  Wonderfully acted film about how hard it can be to be a 17-year old girl.

Loving:  Genuinely sweet film about how love can conquer – even the law of the land.

Moonlight:  Another film that opened the doors to a way of life that needs to be seen and accepted.

The Handmaiden:  Wonderfully filmed story about deception and love.

Arrival:  One of my most favorite films of the year as it shares the concept of non-linear time.

Hacksaw Ridge:  Well executed film about a conscientious objector and a very bloody battle.

Fences:  Although very “play like”, it is a wonderful study of a family.

La La Land:  A thoroughly wonderful engaging film about love.

Elle:  Powerfully acted film about the strength of a woman.

Manchester By The Sea:  The acting in this film is sublime.

When the Oscar Award listing comes out, I’ll share my opinions and best guesses.

The Eagle Huntress

First Hit:  Wonderful uplifting film about a young 13-year-old girl breaking the Mongolian sexist barrier of becoming an eagle hunter.

Not only is the young girl Aisholpan the star of this film so is her father Nurgaiv. His determination to support his daughter breaking the lifelong tradition that only men can become eagle hunters is amazingly beautiful.

This film documents this type of hunting by honing in on this family of nomadic people who live in Yurts in the Spring, Summer and Fall and live in a building during the Winter. For 12 generations, this family has developed top-notch eagle hunters. Aisholpan’s father and grandfather have won the top prize at the annual Eagle Hunting festival. To become an eagle hunter, the prospect must first find eaglets that are old enough to be taken out of their nests but cannot yet fly. Then comes the training which includes teaching the eagle to be carried on the hunter’s arm while walking and riding a horse, chase and pounce on animal skins being pulled on a string, and how to fly back onto the hunter’s arm while on a horse. The final barrier is to actually hunt and kill an animal with your eagle.

The film documents, Aisholpan’s lifelong desire to be a huntress, her dutiful practice and the difficult training regimen. When her father thinks she’s ready, they search out, find and capture an eaglet of her own. She trains the eagle and enters the contest.

All through this, there are interviews with elders who scoff that a woman, let alone a girl, has the strength and ability to become an eagle hunter. Her final test, will be to go into the frozen mountains, find and have her eagle capture and kill a fox.

The expansiveness of the land is well displayed here. The shots of this beautiful, stark, desolate and arid country touched me deeply. The shots of the eagles performing their training and captures was fantastic.

Aisholpan was amazing. Her beautiful smile, steely eyes and determination are perfectly documented. Her father Nurgaiv deserves kudos for defying tradition and old sexist ways by supporting his daughter's desire. Otto Bell did an amazing job of presenting us this amazing way of life and Aisholpan’s challenge.

Overall:  This was a joyful and uplifting film and made me want to go to the annual eagle festival.

Passengers

First Hit:  This was an enjoyable film with wonderful visual effects and three actors and a director that made it work.

Not only was the overall film enjoyable, I walked away thinking would I sign up for a space journey like the one they were on?

To ask this question meant to me that I bought into the premise of the film that 5,000-people signed up to be put to hibernation for 120 years, loaded onto a spaceship so that they could travel to a distant habitable plant, Homestead II, and start a new life. I’d do it in a heartbeat because it would be interesting to see what people bring to the table and the reasons why they would take this risk. It would also give me a chance to use what I’ve learned to assist in the growth of a new society.

On the way to this distant planet, the starship “Avalon” passes through a massive meteor shower and collides with a very large meteor. The ship gets damaged and although it does its best to repair itself, the system overrides cause additional errors to begin, grow, and cascade. This is gets communicated to the audience by giving them a peek into the Avalon's control bridge holographic visuals of the ship's status.

The damage releases the hibernation sequence in one of the pods and wakes Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) 90 years early. At first, he’s really confused as he wanders the ships massive corridors and meeting rooms only to find out that he’s the only one alive. He makes attempts to re-hibernate himself but learns that it is not possible. He tries to break into the hibernating crew quarters but to no avail. His only friend is a robot bartender named Arthur (Michael Sheen).

After about a year of loneliness and frustration and realizing that he will live the rest of his life alone on this spaceship, he decides to wake a fellow passenger whom he thinks is attractive and interesting. Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), the person he wakes up, is a creative writer and when she shares her storyline, as to why she made the choice to go on this adventure, it is beautifully expressed.

The struggle for Jim is that he is also giving her the same death sentence he has by waking her. Again, this provides provocative questions:  Would you wake up another person? Would you tell them that you did this?

The visual effects are well done with a few being outstanding. I liked the views of space, the interior shots of the ship, when they venture outside the ship on tethers, and I was especially impressed with the scene when gravity is lost while Aurora is in the swimming pool. I liked the romance that these two created as it wasn't rushed and left to develop nicely with breath of spaciousness.

This story is unique which also adds to this movie’s appeal. When they discover the ship is dying and they have to try to fix it or the remaining passengers and crew will die, the film shifts into another gear.

Pratt was very good and probably the best role I’ve seen him in. His naturally humorous nature was used judiciously while his caring intensity was kept in check. Lawrence was mesmerizing. She has a way with her voice that allows her to seem both intelligent and sultry at the same time. It is a great combination. Sheen was fantastic as the droid bartending robot. His subtle and human nature spiced with robotic witticisms was perfect. Laurence Fishburne as Gus Mancuso a crewmember that also gets mistakenly awakened was good in this minor role. Jon Spaihts wrote a very strong script that incorporated humor, dramatic elements and a great backdrop. Morten Tyldum had a firm and confident grip on directing the actors, storyline and visuals.

Overall:  This was a very entertaining film in all ways.